JAPAN: DS pirate jailed

Hot on the heels of Nintendo releasing a brand new piracy-fighting patch for its DSi console, Nintendo’s anti-piracy efforts have been further bolstered by the successful prosecution of a high-profile DS pirate in Japan.

Kotaku reports that 38 year old Yoshiaki Asagiri has been handed a two and a half year jail sentence for running a website that offered over 1,000 illegal DS ROMS – effectively digital copies of games – on his own site.

In addition Asagiri, who was arrested last year, was fined just under $100,000.

The presiding judge said the defendant’s actions trampled” on the efforts of copyright holders and the work of games developers.